Stage 14: Rodez > Mende, 178.5km
On a day when a French fan decided the best way to take the moral high ground at what he suspected was doping by Chris Froome, by throwing a cup of urine in his face, good karma bit back when a fellow British competitor, Steve Cummings burst past the young French duo of Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet to spoil the French fun and steal a glorious stage win for his African team, MTN Qhubeka on what was Mandela Day. It was a beautiful script and it played out brilliantly.
Not that I personally have anything again the French, quite the opposite. I would love to see one of Pinot, Bardet or Warren Barguil win the Tour and I think it could well happen in time, but when you you considered Mandela day for the MTN team, you couldn't help but leap out of your seat as he blitzed past the duo to go clear for his first Tour stage victory. That delight was only cemented when we later heard what happened to Froome out on the road.
Naturally that one idiot does not represent the feelings of a country and we know that 99.9% of fans at the side of the road, French or otherwise, are well behaved fans of the sport, but there's a growing sinister element to the treatment and scrutiny of Team Sky and Froome in particular and you cannot help but think that a handful of mindless idiots are only going to be influenced by it.
As things stand Froome has done nothing wrong except win, and that's only wrong if you're not a fan of his. But he's failed no test, he's don't nothing of suspicion -- that is factual, rather than opinions as fact -- and yet he's coming in for the worst kind of treatment on the road to go with innuendos on the media that have lead to outright condemnation on social media by those who don't have to answer to anyone.
Given what had happened you'd have been understanding had Froome gone off on a wild tirade after he crossed the line, but the man handled it with class and took the moral high road, no doubt to the disappointment of those sadly hoping he falls. It's this handling of the pressure in the face of such adversity that is going to make it very tough for Froome's rivals to crack him out on the road, not that they condone the treatment he's starting to face. Mind you, each one of them would love to be in his position wearing the Yellow jersey.
As for the stage itself, it was much as expected for the majority of it. A large break of men with no serious threat to the Yellow jersey got clear and stayed clear and it was the final climb up to the plateau at the aerodrome at Mende that settled the score.
Peter Sagan was in on the break, as much to get the maximum points at the intermediate sprint, though once that goal was achieved he set about trying to get as much as he could on the line. The pace was relentless when they hit the climb and the attacks began immediately. But the climb was a good 1.5km long and at 10% average gradient so anyone attacking early had better been sure they could hold it.
They couldn't.
Cummings on the other hand put his head down, ignored the rest and set about doing his own time-trial to the top to see where he came out once the dust settled. As it turned out he came out quite near the front, though still ways behind Pinot and Bardet who by this stage looked as though it would be they who would do battle to see who would win the stage for France. There was flashbacks to the 1995 Tour when Laurent Jalabert won on this very runway, in the green jersey for France on what was Bastille Day then. Not quite so glorious now, but certainly the chance for someone to become a national icon.
So over to the Brit to spoil the show.
For anyone watching, it was hard to remember that Cummings was even in the break never mind in the mix on the climb, the cameras simply never cut to him and they certainly weren't looking for him when it was two French heroes on the front. Suddenly though he appeared and, like a bat out of hell, he blew by Pinot and Bardet who were already beginning their game of cat and mouse some 1.5km out from the finish. Neither could react and immediately he had a 10 metre gap on them. He took the final couple of corners like a man possessed, and with Pinot leading the charge and far from the greatest at going through the corners, Cummings lead only opened. He powered his way up the gradual rise towards the line and neither spent Frenchman could close the gap.
Further back the big contenders were going their stuff with Chris Froome markings moves, so much so that eventually it was just himself and Quintana left on the front. The duo came to the line together, but perhaps sending a message that there would be no gifts over the final week of the Tour, Froome nipped past the Colombian to take a second out of him on the line though Quintana had done enough to leapfrog Tejay Van Garderen (who lost 40 seconds to Froome) into second overall. Valverde was next in at 4 seconds to Froome while Contador lost 19 seconds.
But what a win for Cummings and MTN-Quhebka, the first African team on the Tour, as a wild-card entry, winning their first stage. And they have been turning heads throughout the first two weeks. They had Daniel Teklehaimanot lead the King of the Mountains contest during the first week of the race, and have had men in many of the breaks throughout. This time they got their reward and what a day to do it on: Mandela. Day.
| Result: | Classement: |
| 1. Cummings (MTN) 4h 23' 43" 2. Pinot (FDJ) +2" 3. Bardet (ALM) +3" 4. Uran (EQS) +20" 5. Sagan (TCS) +29" --- 20. Froome (SKY) +4' 15" 21. Quintana (MOV) +4' 16" 22. Valverde (MOV) +4' 19" 23. Contador (TCS) +4' 34" 24. Nibali (AST) +4' 45" 25. Van Garderen (BMC) +4' 55" | 1. Froome (SKY) in 56h 2' 19" 2. Quintana (MOV) +3' 10" 3. Van Garderen (BMC) +3' 32" 4. Valverde (MOV) +4' 02" 5. Contador (TSC) +4' 23" 6. Thomas (SKY) +4' 54" --- 8. Nibali (AST) +8' 17" |
